Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I say disaster becasue I really got concerned. I have two KSB's about 9 months old male and female in a 10 gallon tank.

I keep reynolds wrap around three quarters of the lid to keep heat in. Temps around 90-95. Not a big water bowl. Like half size of a standard coffee cup.

The female sheds in one whole piece or several pieces with no problems. the female is constantly pacing the cage. Even after eating she is always like looking for something and trying to escape by standing on the last two inches of her tail.

The Albino male doens't shed right. He popped his head out and from the back of hi head down he just let the rest of the shed stay on for about a week. I dug him out and wet him a few times.

I tried soaking he didn't like that at all. I held him in a handful of moist paper towels and let the water run lukewarm on him and I manually pulled the shed off.

I think I was hurting him in some spots where it seemed stuck on. He looked dehydrated so I had no choice but to "help him."

So is there a better way to help this guy shed? Does anyone keep moss and a moist hide around for shedding time. Moving the water bowl closer to the heat doesn't work for these guys.

Lastly he did eat and the bulge helped loosen the shed as it travelled down to his belly and then i did the water thing nd paper towels.

He looked so dehydrated like mouth partially opened, i put him in the cage and set his head in the water bowl. He left his head in there for a minute b4 i thought he was drowning or to weak or to dumb to pull his head out. he finally snapped out of it and went into the sand where he rarely is seen unlike the female.

how can i help this guy stay hydrated and keep him from the shed problems. I keep these guys in a tank of crushed walnut shells. I don't feed them in the cage.

Any advice would be great.

shed problem-male
pacing problem (maybe not a problem)-female.

thanks

I would try switching them to shredded aspen. Very few of my sand boas ever have shedding issues. In the past, I have used moist hides with sphagnum or peat moss..... they will use it, so you might want to give it a try.

Best of luck!
-Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Crushed walnut is very dessicating. Screen top doesn't help either, even if 3/4 is covered.

Soak the snakes in about 1/4 inch of water. Let them hydrate for a good 5-10 minutes.

If you want, keep a humid hide in there, or else soak periodically as needed. Really works. Hydrated snakes are far better captives.

Even though they are arid snakes, they would live mostly in burrows or in the soil where they don't dry out. In captivity in those darn glass tanks on a substrate that sucks the moisture out of everything it touches plus a heater, they dry out faster. A plastic box as a cage may be better for them, as it is more enclosed = less evaporation from the snake's body. And newspaper or aspen is likely better in that it doesn't absorb all the mositure as much.
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Mark

I'd get them off the walnut shells. I'd also consider giving them a bigger water bowl.

I have a 55 gallon display cage in my living room where I keep one of every KSB morph I own 'for the kids'. We use a mesh top and lights and we use hardened burrowing sand with structure like aquarium logs and plants for them to hide in. I have increased the size of the water bowl to about half the diameter of the longest snake. They soak a bit more than the ones in sterilite but they all for the most part have good sheds.

As far as the pacing goes. I find that mine pace when hungry or not able to find enough heat or cool areas. When I see them pacing I first check the tank and make sure the warm side is the temp I want it and the cool side is cool. If both of those are ok it normally turns out they are ready to eat. But they are captive so maybe your girl has seen Braveheart one too many times? How often do you feed her? How old is she? What does she weight?

Below:
Voted most likely to escape at our 2009 Kenyan Family Christmas Party!

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Mark Huntley
Sand Boa Morphs

Kenyan Sand Boa's
4.1 Rufescens
1.2 Albinos
0.5 Dodoma
2.1 Flame
2.5.8 Normal (orange)
3.4.10 Anery
0.1 Snow
2.2 Hopeful Yellow Snow
0.1 Splash Albino
1.0 Splash Anery
1.0 Orange Stripe 100% Het Anery
1.0 High Orange Stripe
1.0 Yellow Stripe
0.4 High Orange Tiger
2.2 High Orange
2.3 Boston Terriers
0.2 Sooners
8.30 Rhode Island Reds
0.0.15 Tropical Fish
0.1 Moody Wives
1.1 On the fence in-laws
2.1 Rug Rats

http://sandboamorphs.blogspot.com/

Thanks for the advice from everyone.

Is Aspen the same thing people buy for like hamsters, gerbils, and rats? The bedding at most pet stores? That stuff stinks doesn't it, like I dont want my house to smell like I have rodents.

Where do you get hardened burrowing sand, that sounds good I guess.

I really don't like them in the 10 gallon, I don't breed snakes so I'm not interested in sweater boxes so maybe I could get them an AP style cage? I have my BOA in an AP 4x2 he sheds perfect.

Or is there another enclosure out there that is good?

Thanks for the help.

The female is growing like twice as fast as the male. Approaching 16 inches I guess about 9 months old. I originally had them on calci sand but that stuff stinks to after a while.

The aspen shouldn't smell too much, it is the pine and cedar that have a sometimes over welling odor. Do not use pine/cedar.

Best of luck,
Chris
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Christopher E. Smith
Contact
Captive Bred Herps
Wildlife Research & Consulting Services, LLC

Good news the Anery quit pacing. I thought she was hungry, she wasn't which that was the first refused meal in 9 months.

I ended up moving the half coconut shell to the cold end of the cage and also where the male w the shed problem always hangs out. He never comes out.

This morning and this evening they were snuggling (or just hanging out) in the coconut together and this morning he was looking for food. Like telescoping the area. I'm relived but still watching him closely. They're probably colder being on that end.

I have a nice low half log on the warm side and I rarely see them in there. Anery is no longer pacing.

New problem: I put in the aspen bedding about 3-4 inches deep and since these guys have never seen aspen bedding their totally trippin out and have no idea what to do. The male immediately tried to burrow and just stopped about a half inch down....it was funny. Like I tricked him or something. Female did the same thing but not as funny.

So my question is will they figure it out, the whole burrowing thing, for the last hour they've been on cruise control checking the place out.

thanks

Jeff